From the crowd there were calls that the protestors should be arrested or even tased, prompting Black Lives Matter Seattle founder Marissa Janae Johnson to declare, “I was going to tell Bernie how racist Seattle is, but you already did this for you.”

Since then, discussion has raged over Black Lives Matter-Seattle’s choices. Bernie’s defenders have wondered aloud: Why interrupt the most left candidate? Why not protest the Republican debate? Why not interrupt Hillary Clinton? And, more defensively, don’t the protestors understand Sanders is their best bet? Don’t other peoples’ concerns matter? Is this kind of raucous misbehavior the real way to get change? And supporters of BLM-Seattle have replied: Yes. There is no time for respectability or patience when Black people are being murdered every single day.

I am writing to other white supporters of Bernie Sanders — because yes, I support him, and I am white — to say that we need to embrace #BlackLivesMatter.